Macao's resident deposits down 0.6% in Feb.

Special Report:Global Financial Crisis

MACAO, April 29 (Xinhua) -- Macao's resident deposits edged down 0.6
percent in February from the previous month to 188 billion patacas (23.8 billion
U.S. dollars), according to figures released Wednesday by the Monetary Authority
of the Macao Special Administrative Region (SAR).

Of the resident deposits, pataca deposits, HK dollar deposits and other
foreign currency deposits fell in February at respective rates of 0.6 percent,
0.1 percent and 2.1 percent, compared with those of the previous month,
according to the figures.

Non-resident deposits and public sector deposits with the banking sector
rose 0.4 percent and 2.3 percent month-to-month.

The SAR's total deposits in the banking sector slid 0.2 percent from the
previous month to 273.6 billion patacas (35 billion dollars), of which the
shares of pataca and HK dollar were 22.7 percent and 44.8 percent respectively
in February, according to the Monetary Authority.

Meanwhile, domestic loans to the private sector grew 0.9 percent month on
month to 91.4 billion patacas (11.6 billion dollars) in February, of which, 67
billion patacas (8.5 billion dollars) were denominated in HK dollar,
representing 73.2 percent of the total.

External loans declined by 1.1 percent to 56.4 billion patacas (7.1 billion
dollars), of which, loans denominated in HK dollar accounted for 55.9 percent of
the total.

Due to the decline in resident deposits and increase in domestic loans to
the private sector, the SAR's loan-to-deposit ratio for the resident sector at
the end of February increased by 0.6 percentage points month on month to 45.4
percent, said the Authority.